2023 Colorado General Assembly Special Session Day 4 Open Thread

9 thoughts on “2023 Colorado General Assembly Special Session Day 4 Open Thread”

1. Here's a thorough piece on US energy issues.  It looks like Yankee ingenuity is letting us have our cake and eat it, too: a strong growth in GDP accompanied by dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions.  Who'd have thunk? 

   Pragmatic Politics for Energy Abundance and Affordability

   Both sides of the political aisle—either explicitly or tacitly—will continue to support domestic oil and gas production, which already benefits from a categorical exclusion under NEPA as well as a fully capitalized workforce and supply chain. While the Biden administration came into office promising to limit drilling on federal lands and otherwise discourage oil and gas development, the White House’s practical decisions have, if anything, worked in the opposite direction. The administration has granted more oil and gas drilling permits than the Trump White House had by this point, and the Justice Department is actively arguing against activist lawsuits to hold fossil fuel industries liable for global climate damages. All sides agree, at the end of the day, that abundant, affordable energy is non-negotiable.

   

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2. Well, Kent Thiry wants to overhaul Colorado's election system in one fell swoop. He's working on a ballot measure that would switch us over to jungle primaries, ranked choice voting, all-petition candidacies, and special elections in case of resignation. It might be a series of ballot measures instead of one big ol' package that I can't imagine would pass single-subject. I hope voters show our dear unelected Elections Overlord the HH treatment, but maybe that's just me.

   https://coloradosun.com/2023/11/20/2024-ballot-measure-ranked-choice-voting/

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   1. Interesting.  I'd like to see the language of the actual amendment before determining whether this is a good, bad, or mixed proposal.  

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      1. I just looked and did not see an initiative(s) formally filed yet.

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         1. Thanks.  We'll see if he follows through and, if so, who the proponents are.  

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   2. The only one of those measures I'd REALLY hate would be the "special elections in case of resignation" [probably including other vacancies, as well].

      It would be expensive [not easy to find a "real" cost.  ABA's Human Rights Magazine, Vol. 48, No. 1: Economics of Voting says "Estimates of annual election funding vary widely from $2 billion to $3 billion or $8 to $15 per vote cast prior to the 2020 election,"]. 

      And "special elections" would mean selection by a narrow segment of voters, an outcome little better than the current methods of replacement. There are alternatives — for example, members of the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions came from self-nominations, nonpartisan consideration to form a pool of "qualified" applicants, and layers of random draws.

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   3. Jungle primary with ranked choice voting is a great way to conduct an election. It's worked well in Alaska and in Maine.

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3. svg-2-Colorado-Pols-Logo-min.svg is not a vector image. It is bitmap. What is with you people?

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4. This is for David Thi: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-jamala-eurovision-song-9a9a7d902912c93b9f8b607291819622

    

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